Asgard Therapeutics appointed Professor Dr. Wolfram Brugger as chief medical officer to advance its lead immunotherapy candidate AT-108 toward Phase 1 clinical development, according to a company statement.

Brugger joins the Lund, Sweden-based biotech company from NASDAQ-listed Autolus Therapeutics, where he led global clinical development of AUTO1, an autologous CD19 CAR T therapy that received FDA approval in 2024 for relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He has participated in more than 130 Phase I-III clinical oncology trials across various cancer types.

AT-108 is described as an off-the-shelf gene therapy that reprograms tumor cells into dendritic cells to present tumor antigens and trigger immune responses. The therapy uses a replication-deficient adenoviral vector to deliver three reprogramming factors into tumor cells.

Prior to Autolus, Brugger worked at MorphoSys, where he headed clinical development for monoclonal antibody tafasitamab, which received FDA accelerated approval in 2020 for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. He also served as global medical lead for Phase I and early Phase II trials at AstraZeneca.

Brugger previously held the position of Chief and Medical Director in the Department of Hematology, Oncology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at a teaching hospital of Freiburg University in Germany. He holds an MD and PhD from German universities and has specialist registration in internal medicine, medical oncology and hematology.

Asgard is currently conducting IND-enabling studies for AT-108. The company published proof-of-concept data for the therapy in the journal Science in 2024. Asgard's investors include Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Industrifonden, RV Invest and Johnson & Johnson Innovation.